Stupid Postal Service question/issues about shipping.

So a while back we had someone steal crap out of our mailbox, so we got a PO box and that was nice. But the issue is with buying crap online.

UPS/FedEx/DHL won't ship to a PO box. So when I buy crap and I know the method of shipping, I use the appropriate address. But when in doubt (ebay sellers that don't say how they are shipping) I've used the street address and it takes a day or two longer to forward, but I get it.

Well, last week I had 3 packages get "returned to sender" because the address forward request expired. So if they sent it to my house and the address forward (to the PO box) has passed, why didn't the post office just deliver it to my house?

WTF?

So I guess the address forwarding is only good for 6 months. But if it expires, the house address is still valid, right?. I still live there!

The problem with getting stuff at work is getting it home. If I ride my motorcycle, large packages are out. If I ride the bus, I have a 1.5 mile walk to the stop and huffing large packages again are a pain in the ass.

If I had gotten ALL of my bike parts, I could have built it here and rode it home, though. That would have been sweet.

The one nice thing about my post office is there have been a few times where they notice the address and leave it for me without sending it to downtown to come back to the PO box (that is located in the same building it went to in the first place).

It's any number of meth heads that live in the RC (restitution center) a few blocks away. They just happen to walk through the neighborhood from time to time. I doubt they would care about going back to prison.

A good idea if I thought it would matter. But they are all criminals and if you caught one, there would be another next week. The post office got pissed when I moved my mailbox closer to the house. So the PO box was the best option.

I'm looking into a locking mailbox myself. I don't trust the thugs that have started moving into our area and I figured the cost of the mailbox compared to "renting" a PO box and it comes out ahead, figuring gas and time to drive to post office to check mail.

I'm looking into a locking mailbox myself. I don't trust the thugs that have started moving into our area and I figured the cost of the mailbox compared to "renting" a PO box and it comes out ahead, figuring gas and time to drive to post office to check mail.

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not a bad idea but most lock boxes are not really suitable for bike parts...depending on the size of the bike parts...D

not a bad idea but most lock boxes are not really suitable for bike parts...depending on the size of the bike parts...D

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Our neighborhood has banks of locking boxes, similar to po boxes, that also have 2 larger boxes for packages. They put the key to the large box in your individual box if you have a package. All of it is managed by the Post Office, even getting replacement keys or replacing locks. Very secure and convenient.